550i M Sport

[bmw2002]

berry100 said:

There is a perfect place to put your phone..or so I thought, I put mine on the dash where the Nav screen is, but tonight on my way home as I left a set of lights in the 'full beans' mode, it flew off into the back of the car!!!!

Had to pull over to find it in the rear footwell!!!!

Obviously not trying hard enough, its when you get it on the rear parcel shelf you know you're going quick

[berry100]

bmw2002 said:

berry100 said:

There is a perfect place to put your phone..or so I thought, I put mine on the dash where the Nav screen is, but tonight on my way home as I left a set of lights in the 'full beans' mode, it flew off into the back of the car!!!!

Had to pull over to find it in the rear footwell!!!!

Obviously not trying hard enough, its when you get it on the rear parcel shelf you know you're going quick

Damn!! Will try again tomorrow, this time I'll take the rubber protective cover of the phone to assist it's slideability!!

[Welshbeef]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Nice to see you selected parts of my post. Totally missed the part about which ones I subscribe to - so therefore I can comprehend why I want to pay to read a magazine.


Frankly I'd suggest maybe you should evaluate what I post more haste less speed little one.

[BAHN-STORMA]

CommanderJameson said:

Just remember there's NO bd PLACE for you to put your phone, and the stupid compartment under the armrest redefines stupid.

Its a bluetooth connection - Just leave it in your pocket?

[john_r]

berry100 said:

CommanderJameson said:

Vesuvius 996 said:

Update

Drove a Slverstone II M5 at BMW dealer Sunday. Loved it.

Waiting for figures on my car, which apparently they'll retail as it only needs £300 prep.


What a car!

Just remember there's NO bd PLACE for you to put your phone, and the stupid compartment under the armrest redefines stupid.

That is, unless the interior's vastly different from the 530d I drove. Which i doubt it will be.

There is a perfect place to put your phone..or so I thought, I put mine on the dash where the Nav screen is, but tonight on my way home as I left a set of lights in the 'full beans' mode, it flew off into the back of the car!!!!

Had to pull over to find it in the rear footwell!!!!

I got one of these and it worked a treat in the M5 - with a slight trim it fits perfectly in front of the nav screen... http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/product/4169.htm

[gizlaroc]

BAHN-STORMA said:

CommanderJameson said:

Just remember there's NO bd PLACE for you to put your phone, and the stupid compartment under the armrest redefines stupid.

Its a bluetooth connection - Just leave it in your pocket?

It's not just me thinking the same thing then!

[Guyr]

545i is a lovely car, as is the 550. I have a 545i for the wife's car bought new and it gets 22-24mpg, quick enough and very comfortable (19s with normal tyres not the hideous run-flats). We'll keep this for a few more years as thanks to recent petrol/tax scares it's near-worthless.

The M5 IMHO is an odd car, yes it's quick, but it's got too-little torque, the wrong gearbox for a car that size (SMG suits my CSL but not a luxury family car) and has terrible range/fuel consumption.

The best 5 series (ignoring Diesel which is for lorries and trains) is the Alpina B5. near 200mph performance, M5 matching acceleration (9.5 to 100mph) and yet with 24mpg and a torquey smooth engine through a proper auto. Also very very discreet, when de-badged.

Mine was for sale on here, but is now with a dealer (Saffrons), as I got fed up with time-wasters.

Guy

[noumenon]

Is there an e60 B5? If so, what do they start at?

[silver16v]

You can pick up an early B5 for around £30k (see Guy's car in Classifieds - looks the business). If they were at that level a year ago I would never have bought my 535d

[noumenon]

silver16v said:

You can pick up an early B5 for around £30k (see Guy's car in Classifieds - looks the business). If they were at that level a year ago I would never have bought my 535d

Ah, was hoping to get something in the teens, so out of my price range at the moment.

Actually thinking a 545i might be a better buy than a 535d! More depreciation and dealers will probably not want them. Great for prices now, maybe not so good when I come to sell it in future. Head says 535d, heart says 545i!

[gizlaroc]

I reckon that for a car in the teens price, meaning you will be looking at a pre facelift 535d, the consumption will be less than 3mpg between them.

Now with petrol 10% cheaper I think running costs will be the same.


No brainer!!

[pgilc1]

gizlaroc said:

I reckon that for a car in the teens price, meaning you will be looking at a pre facelift 535d, the consumption will be less than 3mpg between them.

Now with petrol 10% cheaper I think running costs will be the same.


No brainer!!

I can average 33mpg easily in my pre fscelift 535d over the course of a tankful, will a B5 really average 30?

[gizlaroc]

Wasn't it the EVO review that came back with 28mpg on their test car??

Said it didn't really drop below 20mpg even when ragging it, where as the M5 they were testing it against was showing 12mpg.

I never managed to get better than 26mpg from the 535d unless on a run, then I could get it up to 33, maybe 34mpg but never more than that, unless stuck in traffic at 60mph for the whole journey.

I think most people get between 26-30mpg from the 535d, and most of the B5 owners seem to get about 22-26mpg, so not much in it, well not as much as most would imagine when comparing a 500bhp supercharged V8 with a diesel.

[Zod]

All I'll say about the B5 is that it is more different from an M5 than you can possibly imagine. You must drive both to see which appeals to you.

[roofer]

A B5 s does about 8mpg when the taps are open, and 18-20 average. Worth it though

[pgilc1]

gizlaroc said:

Wasn't it the EVO review that came back with 28mpg on their test car??

Said it didn't really drop below 20mpg even when ragging it, where as the M5 they were testing it against was showing 12mpg.

I never managed to get better than 26mpg from the 535d unless on a run, then I could get it up to 33, maybe 34mpg but never more than that, unless stuck in traffic at 60mph for the whole journey.

I think most people get between 26-30mpg from the 535d, and most of the B5 owners seem to get about 22-26mpg, so not much in it, well not as much as most would imagine when comparing a 500bhp supercharged V8 with a diesel.

Hmm, other people are quoting 18-20mpg on average on a B5, which would still be excellent for a 500BHP supercharged car.

My 535d does a 50mile commute daily into heavy city traffic and local work at the weekend. I'd say if i was doing only long runs im ine i could get 36+. This is consistent with what i was seeing in my LCI 535d - 37mpg on average 42+ on long runs.

Some quick calcs would show that if you're doing 12K per year it would cost approx £100 a month more to run the B5 than a 535d, before you take into account the running costs of a B5, insurance, etc and based on 18mpg v 32mpg.

For comparison, my 2.5 v6 156 Alfa did 22mpg on the same runs, ie, a petrol car with just 2/5ths the power of a B5.

No doubt people will go 'oh oh i'd pay the extra £100 a month', bear in mind possibly the extra purchase costs, the extra potential depreciation, the running costs, insurance, tax, etc and it starts to mount up to a sizeable sum.

there are people whom will want to buy a B5 / M5 and wont tolerate a diesel instead - and thats fair enough, i'm not saying the 535d offers comparable power or a comparable driving experience. What i am saying is lets not kid ourselves that you could run a B5 for the price of running a 535d.

Edited by pgilc1 on Thursday 30th October 09:14

[roofer]

A B5 cannot be run for 535d money, end of. Alpina also only come with a 2 year warranty, an expense that needs factoring in imo.

They are a fantastic car, but not bombproof.

[berry100]

Turning into a bit of a B5 v M5 debate at times here...

2 very different cars I suspect (obviouisly!), can only comment on the M5 which I believe pound for pound has the edge...

The B5 to me is a superbly quick cruiser whilst the M5 offers the handling to go with it along with the optional Damper/Gear change settings to suit the mood...and oh one little thing......that V10 engine!!

Whilst the Auto box on the 5'ers is great and I would say...better than the SMG in the 1st couple of gears for smoothness....after that I wouldn't go back to one having experienced the M5 box at full pelt....unless all my time was spent driving in the city centre...

Whilst I have nothing against the Alpina's, I just don't 'get' them at times ...all personal thoughts though as I'm sure they are a great car..

[Frik]

gizlaroc said:

I never managed to get better than 26mpg from the 535d unless on a run, then I could get it up to 33, maybe 34mpg but never more than that, unless stuck in traffic at 60mph for the whole journey.

Interesting enough, that almost perfectly matches the numbers I get out of the M3.

So much for diesel then...

[pgilc1]

Frik said:

gizlaroc said:

I never managed to get better than 26mpg from the 535d unless on a run, then I could get it up to 33, maybe 34mpg but never more than that, unless stuck in traffic at 60mph for the whole journey.

Interesting enough, that almost perfectly matches the numbers I get out of the M3.

So much for diesel then...

It depends on the driving / driver. I get an easy 32mpg minimum out of mine and it doesnt hang about. Plus its a heavier bigger car too.

Also all cars made from Mar 07 onwards will pull an extra 4mpg again over that, so thats 36 / 37mpg - heading towards 50% more than you're getting.

Edited by pgilc1 on Thursday 30th October 14:08